My post on companies that do and those that dont test on animals

Sunday, 26 December 2010

Yep, me and Chris went to see Tron Legacy in IMAX 3D, which was spectacular! Fantastic film, even if some of the tech talk went over my head, i loved the pretty costumes!
I was inspired by the eye makeup the Siren's wear and the colours of the film. I also had just got Barry M's dazzle dust in 98 Petrol Black, which is an incredible colour that flips between blue, green and purple shimmer on a black base. reminds me of the feathers on a magpie. When i was applying it i saw blue on my lids, and purple in the pot, yet alot of my photos show green!
With my eyes, i used the shape of the Siren's eyemakeup and used the powders to give the effect of the glow of the good guy's blue white over the black and the reflected blue on the black of their costumes.

I wore this on 23rd December and wanted a play a bit more with the Nyx glitters i got.
This time i used a rich green and the gold from the Fresh Greens set.

I also used some of my favourite loose colours by Fyrinnae. the Arcane magic certainly are magical! The two colours i used are flip tone colours that dance between shimmery greens and rich brown or silvery taupe...

Thursday, 23 December 2010

Aldi have been getting some kind words about their skincare and i wanted to see if theyre makeup was as good.
The makeup is under the name Lacura and isnt tested on animals as are any of Aldi's toilettries.

I bought a waterproof mascara in black and the concealer pen.

Both are packaged in shiny silver metal packaging, which gives the products a very high class look, even though the prices are as the americans say drugstore. ( I cant remember exactly how much i paid for these but both were under £5)

First up the mascara -

Its quite a small tube, but i like that as the brush reaches right the bottom of the tube. The brush is a thick shape that does give a lovely thickening to the lashes.

Here are my eyelashes with no mascara on them.....

and with one coat of the mascara (eyelashes were not curled prior to application) -

and two coats with eyeliner-

Now ive yet to find a true waterproof mascara and sadly this is also not actually waterproof, but it is smudge proof and long lasting, plus it does emphasise the lashes, curls them slightly and lengthens them.
It does has an interesting scent, somewhat floral, which is odd but not noticeble when worn.
Its a good mascara for the price and easily comparable to main high street brands like Max Factor and Revlon, i'd buy it again.

Next - Concealer Pen-

Again a lovely silver metallic mirror finish to the packaging.

Its a click up design similar to many under eye brighteners and its a liquid in a light neutral slightly pink toned colour that instantly brightens my dark circles under my eyes. I also use it along the sides of my nose to diffuse the area. This is a fantastic product! It really does work as well as some of the high end versions of this type of product. Id definitely buy this again, probably more than 1 as my Aldi isnt that local to get to!

These were the only 2 products that interested me from the range, although they do do lipsticks, lipglosses, foundation, powder, an eyedshadow duo and a normal mascara.

Been away from here a while, that was due to losing my camera battery charger! Well i found it and could continue to take photos lol

This was my look i wore went i dragged myself into town to do the last of my xmas shopping. I felt i wanted to bring a bit of colour to the white outside. Since i had picked up a couple of NYX glitter creme palettes i felt i needed some glitter too! Purple is my favourite colour and is often my go to when i cant decide what shades to go for.

Monday, 13 December 2010

I popped into TK Maxx yesterday looking for a nice new jumper and although i didnt find anything in liked i stumbled across a load of NYX makeup for sale there. they have some large palette collections - like lip colour palettes, eye shadow palettes and makeup artists palettes, all with huge discounts! I got the makeup artist palette which has large eyeshadows, some blushers and highlighters and couple of lip colours. I should have got the eyeshadow collection too...will nab that when i go back!
They also had some of the small 10 eye shadows palettes (of which all left were damaged) and some of the glitter eye cremes, of which i bought 2 - a purple set and a green set.

if you have wanted to try NYX but didnt want to ship from the US, run as fast as you can to T K Maxx and nab one of the collections palettes!

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

When Cherry Culture had another one of its big offers i decided to try some of the LA Colors eyeshadow sets as id seen some good swatches of them. I also picked up 3 more of the lovely LA Girl Creme Lipsticks.

I love buying from Cherry Culture in some regards as i ordered this batch a month ago, and sort of forgot about it, so its always a nice surprise when the package does arrive!
( CC always pack their items very well and ive not received a broken item yet).

Superdrug have their own makeup range called Makeup Academy or M.U.A. and everything is £1. yep...£1!
( There was another bargain makeup range by the name Makeup Academy around a while back..but this is not the same one)

Ive not had a good look through the entire collection but i did pick up some of the eyeshadows as they looked like dupes for more expensive brands, that even Superdrug stock - Accessorize and Famous by Sue Moxley.( yeah not much more expensive, but when everything is a £1, anything will be more expensive!)

I bought shades 9, 10, 12 and 13. - 3 purples and a duotone brown shade that apparently is a dupe for a MAC shade...not that i know which one, as im not that big a fan of MAC.(.overpriced in my opinion - i only own some of the lipsticks and a couple of pigments before i discovered mineral makeup!)
All shadows i picked are called pearl shades. MUA also have mattes which i haven't tried yet.

Monday, 22 November 2010

Disclaimer - These eyelashes were sent to me to review with no payment. My opinion is an honest one.http://www.eldora.co.uk/Eldora do many eyelash styles, all handmade and with a choice of synthetic and human hair, as well as fancy lashes made with feathers.
What the company say -

Eldora is about beautiful, quality and value-priced lashes. With its vast range from natural to extreme, there is a pair of eyelashes for everyone for any occasion. Be it for everyday use, nights out, costume parties or spoiling yourself, highlight your personality with our handmade, weightless, easy-to-apply collections.

Spoil yourself with more than 200 types of eyelashes to choose from.

I recieved two sets to try, one my choice and 1, the companies choice. I chose for myself a set of human hair lashes H101 (£3.90) and the company sent me a synthetic set B126 (£3.90)
the human set is on the top, the synthetic on the bottom.
They come packaged in a yellow card box with a light plastic slide out case holding the lashes A vile of their glue is inside the case. A useful packaging as they are easy to store.

The synthetic are fine feathery lashes that look like they'd blend in well to my own lashes without looking over done. As with any eyelashes i had to trim about 4mm off the inner edge to fit my eyelid. I have to do this with practically all full length false eyelashes, and trimming didn't mess up the design in any way which is good.
The main problem i had with them was the strip the lashes are attached to is very thick. I prefer thin strips as i can get the lashes much closer to the edge of the eyelid. Because of the thick line i could also feel the eyelashes on. I had to apply a thick eyeliner line to hide the strip.
Shame as the style is very nice and natural looking when worn. I think i might try and trim the thickness of the strip and see if that works better for me as they are a nice daytime style as well as a light definition for evening looks.

The human set though, felt totally different. I love these lashes! they are more in your face style, but they have a much thiner strip and i can attach these far closer to edge of my lid. ( ack my own eyelashes are not curled at the inner corners..)
These lashes would be perfect for going out and evening looks. They do not need as thick an eyeliner to blend them in either. Highly recommend these. They also felt alot lighter and were more comfortable to wear.

The adhesive that comes with the lashes is very good. Its a pretty opalescent blue that when dry is clear. I normally use Duo black eyelash adhesive but Eldora's own works just as well.
I'll definitely buy the human hair lashes again as they feel far superior to synthetic lashes...of any ive worn.
Going to buy H125 and H116 to try next!
At the price these are fantastic lashes as most human lashes start at £5.

Sleek's Party palette is here. Called Sparkle it has , obviously sparkly eye shadows! These are VERY glittery indeed and you need a decent primer and i add Fyrinnae's awesome Pixi Epoxy to give these shadows their full potential. The glitter though is fine and doesn't look tacky. Also comes with a gold and silver shimmer, these contain no glitter..
This palette is Limited Edition.

Hardest colour to work with on top row is star light as the base colour isnt very pigmented. My favourite shade is Dream maker, the purple tone to the grey make it a stunning shade.

When applied, it can be hard to tell the two warm purple apart. Mistletoe is my favourite shade here along with the two shimmery metallics.
Hope these swatches are ok. Its soo dull and dark here in the UK its hard to get a decent photo!

Yeah i know Bad Girl has been out for a while, but ive not been too well to post until now.
As usual Sleek's palettes are a bargain to be had. Bad Girl came out along with its sister Good Girl ~( all pinks, peaches and a soft red - not my colours) and is a great palette for the smoky eye trend.
It is very similar to the limited edition Graphite palette Sleek brought out, so if you are missing that one, then Bad Girl is a good one to get as i dont think its L.E.
The top rows of both palettes are virtually identical, but Graphite's lower row is mostly purples, where as Bad Girl has 2 of green, blue and purple shades. They are Very pigmented, almost inky. They are also not very shimmery, more a satin finish which is very suitable for smoky looks.

I really like that Sleek are now giving names to the colours, makes reference to them very handy. The palette comes in a cardboard packaging, which is handy to instantly recognise this palette from all the other black Sleek palettes. Wish they print the name of each palette on the sides of the box as i store all my palettes that way and its useful to pick out which one i need if they had names on the sides! :)

I adore the Graphite palette so wasn't sure if id need this one, but I've come to love the inky textures of the colours. I can lighten them slightly by applying either Innocent or Gullible over them lightly, which also gives the shades a more shimmery finish.

This look ive called -Incanta, the sorceress. She is the dark sister of Ceremonia. Where the former is full of light, Incanta embraces the darkness. She wears a mask of colours that in nature would show danger, which she admires for its beauty and cruelty.She is the sorceress needed to create the magic of the Art of Darkness
Images enlarged are very large -

Thursday, 7 October 2010

If you live near a T J Hughes then head on to it pronto as they have aload of Urban Decay makeup in stock with prices starting at £3.95 and i believe the most expensive item is a 3 packet of glitter liners. I've bought a number of the lipsticks (with their cutelittle daggers in the lids). They also have eyeshadows including the limited edition packaging,liquid eyeliner in Gash and i think another shade, smudge eyeliner pencils, lip glosses and loose pigments. think ive got 8 lipsticks, 2 eyeshadows and a liquid liner for £30 odd.

Tuesday, 5 October 2010

These are the other lipsticks i got in a recent Cherry Culture discount haul. I thought id give some of the other brands a go to see if they were any good.
Brand i bought were Jordana Easyshine, Sinful Colors and LA Girl Luxury Creme lipsticks

Jordana Easy Shine lipsticks -

I bought 3 shades Sweet Strawberry, Sugar Cookie and Grape-tini. These lipsticks are sheer glossy lipsticks with a strong scent of what ever their name implies. The scent isnt offensive and does go away. They have a slightly sweet taste too. The colours are pretty and Sugar Cookie and Grapetini have slight shimmer.

Sweet Strawberry is a shiny pink red. Only on closeup do you see the patchyness of the shade, in general this is a nice sheer red to wear day to day and fades gradually. Smells of strawberry sweets.

Sugar Cookie is an almost clear shade on the lip with only a little pinky brown definition. It does have a slight shimmer. This is a better than clear gloss look for every day wear. Smells of..cookies

Grape-tini is the most pigmented of the 3, a pinky purple with slight shimmer. Smells of grape sweets.

Pros - sheer shades that are nice every day colours, easy to apply.
Cons - lipstick when new sticks out over barrel so you have to be careful when putting lid back on not to hit lipstick. Colour doesnt last very long on lips.

LA Girl Luxury Creme lipsticks

I bought two shades to try - Rendezvous and Forbidden Love.
As usual Cherry Culture's swatches are very bad and i had to search for swatches of this lipstick brand of which there are few. A shame because these lipsticks are wonderful! Very creamy, Highly pigmented and long lasting with a fruity scent that you can hardly smell on the lips.

Rendezvous -.

This is another of those better than lip colour shades - a warm mauve pink,. So pigmented and creamy.

Forbidden Love -

A light mauve pink, again very pigmented and creamy.

Iv'e realised i seem to have a lot of these 'better than lips' shades so ive done a comparison shot of all of them

Natural Light

Flash

I feel the LA Girl beats the Black Label on one point - less scent. Both types are long lasting, pigmented and creamy, but the Black Label does have a stronger scent.
I think ill be trying a few more of these LA Girl creme lipsticks as theyre still reduced on Cherry Culture.

I bought 3 shades Rendezvous, Rajah and Ricochet. As you can see one of these lipsticks comes in a different packaging, but it is the same lipstick. I think the square packaging is an older type. I hope thats the case anyway..ill come to the reason why in a moment.

Rendezvous -

A very light shimmery pink. I was expecting it to be slightly more mauve but on my lips its very pale pink. The downside of this lipstick is its cloying scent. It smells cheap and the chemical scent does not go away and its the kind that gets into the back of your throat.
This is only apparent on the square packaged lipstick, the ones in the round packaging dont have as strong a smell. What is annoying is you cannot tell what you will get when you buy this lipstick. Sinful colors own website shows the square packaging but it also says its updating its website. I think ill email them to ask which is newer of the two.

Rajah -

Similar in shade to Nyx's Kona Coffee, a bruised brown base with pinky purple shimmer. More even to apply that Kona Coffee too.

Ricochet -

POW! an intense deep fuchsia pink shimmer. This is one coat and boy is it pigmented. Doesnt have the blue flash of Nyx's Pandora but it does apply better as is a deeper tone.

Pros - very pigmented, large amount in bullet, round packaging has good quality lipstick with little scent
Cons - square packaging has horrid scent in lipstick, Cannot tell what type you will get.

About Me

Welsh goth and costumer /cosplay geek, who loves scif, gothic horror, her partner and her cats!
I love makeup, the drama of it, the ability to change your appearance and create an Alter ego....or 3!
I now only blog about cosmetics that have not been tested on animals and research any new brand that's come to find out if it too is cruelty free.
As an alt model and costumer i've learnt plenty of makeup techniques and tricks and got to learn a few more from some of the big names in film and tv too!
This blog is to review the makeup i buy and try as well as show some of the looks i create...yep i have many a draw full of the stuff!I have incredibly pale skin and its quite oily on my tzone so many of the reviews will be biased to that.If you have different skin, your experience with the same product might be totally different, so please bare that in mind!